Friday, April 10, 2015

Hello all, I'm back! Today I have a card that I made a couple of weeks ago. I saw this Bear Hugs by Mama Elephant stamp and die set and I immediately thought of my baby boy, Gabriel. He actually turns 20 years old today. Happy Birthday!! I had been planning on purchasing the set but then, @mags_doodle, a very talented person that I follow on Instagram, did a giveaway, and I WON!! I was so excited! It was the first (and last, so far) time I had won a giveaway.

She sent it to me and it was perfect timing! My son, Gabriel, is a LCPL in the U.S. Marine Corps. I am one very proud mom! He hadn't been home in exactly 14 months. He had been stationed in Virginia and then deployed to Cuba early December and we didn't get to talk much, it was so hard. He came home for a week and my heart was happy. This stamp set arrived while he was here.

Gabe and I, March 21, 2015

Here is the card I made. You know the song "Somewhere Out There" from An American Tale, you know, with Fievel? I had forgotten about it too. One day though, a couple of months ago, after going days without hearing from my son, it came on while I was in Hobby Lobby, yep, I burst into tears. I couldn't stop crying. So when I saw this set I remembered the words....

Somewhere out there

Beneath the pale moonlight

Someone's thinking of me

And loving me tonight

As I look at the card now, it seems pretty simple. But, when I think about how I felt and all of the things I was thinking of as I made it, it's not simple at all. We had a really good time while he was here. We are planning a family trip to go see him this summer in Virginia Beach before he deploys again.

For the technical part... I colored the sweet bears with Prismacolor Pencils then covered them with Elmer's Rubber Cement. Next, I inked up the sky with Memento Paris Dusk and the grass with Memento Pear Tart and Cottage Ivy. I cut a piece of card stock and used it to mask off the sky/grass. I cut the moon with my Sizzix circle die, inked it up with Memento Dandelion and a tiny bit of Hero Arts Soft Granite. Then I added the sentiment from the Bear Hugs set with Memento Tuxedo Black. I lined it up and adhered it so that it would be on the inside of the card. No card is complete without glitter, so I threw a few stars on. See, simple but not. LOL

Well, thank you for stopping by and checking out my cards I really do appreciate it. Feel free to follow me on Instagram, the link is on the top left of the page. I post more things on there than I do here, although, I am trying to do better at posting here more often.

Friday, April 3, 2015

Wow!! It has been almost a month since I last posted. So many things have been going on lately I just haven't had much time for crafting. Sad, I know. I have been meaning to post a family update and just haven't had a chance. I will post it within the next couple of days for sure.

Anyhow, I did get a chance to get into my craft room and create a couple of things. As with all of the other holidays, I waited until the last minute to create festive goodies. I always say I'm not going to do anything, people just throw them away, it's too much work...bla, bla, bla. Then the night before I just can't resist. So I made some Easter treats. Well, the treat holder.

I made these little cuties for my kids and coworkers. I thought it was much better than just saying "here's a bunny". Other than the chocolate bunnies I had everything else on hand so that helped. They were really easy and I am posting directions just in case anyone else wants to make them. I know Easter is this weekend but they're so simple, it wouldn't take much to whip some up real quick. I started with the following...

I used some patterned card stock and cut it to 2 1/2" X 11" then scored at 5" and 6". I used my Sizzix circle die to cut the "window" out. Next, I cut 2 small pieces measuring 2" X 1", these will help it stand up. The scalloped circle is also a Sizzix die.

I lined up the edges of the card stock and used MFT's Blueprints 19 Die Namics set to get the tag edge. You could easily do one edge at a time but I wanted to make sure they lined up perfectly. I only stuck the very edge that I wanted to cut in between the cutting plates, then just snipped off the edges.

I then used just a regular hole punch to make the hole for the ribbon to go through. I also added the small reinforcement piece which I cut using MFT's Tag Builder Blueprints 2.

As for those small pieces of card stock, they are totally optional. I just couldn't get mine to stand without them. And I really needed them to stand. I scored them 1/2" from both sides and then adhered them to the front and back of the larger piece.

I intended to stamp the sentiment but I had a tag die from my Project Life die set that I wanted to use and the stamp was just too big. I found a font that I liked, made a sheet of labels using white card stock and then cut them all out with the die. I placed the cute bunny inside, tied a bow and BAM! I meant to embellish them more but it was getting late and I was pleased with them already. Besides, people are just gonna throw them away right?

I thought these were cute and pretty simple to make. Thank you for stopping by! Hopefully, I can get back to my regular schedule and get to crafting more than I have (or haven't) in the recent weeks.